This is the most absurd thing to have knitted, on impulse, in April — which, when you think about it, is the whole fun of it. It’s good to go a little rogue on one’s well-laid plans once in awhile, as long as A) the journey is fun or B) the outcome is worthwhile. Hopefully both — and in this case, I can say both. Making a sweater in about a week is fun, no way around it, and the relative kookiness of the finished sweater will do my increasingly reserved closet some good. So I’m very happy with it, even while I’m leery of how this yarn will wear over time. As I mentioned somewhere in the comments last week, given that it’s basically single-ply merino (at superbulky gauge) I fear it will be a giant pilled bathmat within a couple of wears. I truly hope I’m wrong, but even if I’m right, I’ll be perfectly happy to wear it around the house nonstop with my flannel pajama pants in the cold months, because putting this on is like climbing inside your favorite pillow.
The pattern is a bit lacking, I have to say. The extremely basic construction of this makes it a great candidate for a beginner sweater, but I would never recommend it as anyone’s first sweater. Just because if you don’t already know how to put a sweater together, you’ll have no chance at making sense of these instructions. But if you’re capable of filling in the holes for yourself, and can get by on some rudimentary stitch counts and measurements and wing the rest, you’re good!
Pattern: Super Cropped Sweater by Loopy Mango
Yarn: Loopy Mango Merino No. 5 in Lady Blue
Cost: 5 balls (one more than the pattern calls for) at $28 each = $140
NOTE: I bought the yarn from the incredibly lovely Loopy Mango ladies while at Stitches South, and they very kindly threw in the big US19 needles (with hot pink cable!) in addition to their Loopy tote bag. I was super pleased with the whole shopping experience!
Modifications: My row gauge was more compact than theirs, so already it was going to take me more rows (and more yarn) to reach the designated measurements, but I also lengthened all of the parts. The body is meant to be 16″ and I made mine 18″. The sleeve length isn’t given, but if you tally up the rows and compare to their row count, it would come out to 10.4″ — too short for me. I wanted them a bit cropped but not elbow length; however, I was limited to what I could squeeze out of 1 ball per sleeve, which wound up to be just dandy. I also added neck shaping at the front (as opposed to the square neckhole of the pattern); knitted the sleeves flat rather than picking up stitches and knitting them top-down; and worked the neck band on US17 needles. I wish I had noticed that the pattern was not written for the nice long cuffs the sample had, which I loved — it appears to have had 12 rows of ribbing instead of 10 — but by the time I noticed it, I wasn’t going back.
I have only steam-blocked this, but did widen the body considerably in the process — mine is about 42″ circumference (compared to the pattern’s 32″), and as noted above, knitted to 18″ length (not 16″).
By the way, I opted to photograph this with the same clothes I had on that day at Stitches, and up until 10 minutes ago I could actually have gotten away with this exact outfit. But now we’re into the 80s and staying there. Hopefully there will be a cool night or two on the porch between now and fall, but I look forward to wearing this with a dress and boots once summer has come and gone.
See all posts on this sweater on the blog and on Instagram.
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PREVIOUSLY in 2016 FOs: Blue sleeve/less dress
Karen, you look absolutely adorable in this sweater! It looks very luxurious on you.
Karen, How nice you look! Wonderful in the total outfit!
LOVE this sweater! I agree with Linda!
Love it! Great choice for an impulse buy. Predict there will be plenty of opportunities to wear it yet this spring, but I love the notion of throwing it on over jammies in the deep midwinter too. Very Cool!
Sometimes you have to go where the spirit leads you. :) I love that color.
Cute as anything! The perfect Spring/Fall cover-up!
I would look like a fat hobbit. a VERY FAT HOBBIT.
Patty, I thought the same thing about myself. But it looks adorable on Karen!
Lovely! And how often is it that you can make a sweater as instant gratification?
Looks really cute on you, I know I’d never be able to pull it off. I agree it is such fun to bang out a sweater. I made my Stopover in 10 days thanks to the inspiration from the MDK KAL and the gratification is immense. Now you should continue your big needle jag and make that giant Purl Soho sheep. :)
On the one hand, hey! Cool sweater! On the other hand, I have problems with a company selling a sweater kit for $125+ that won’t wear well. I know it falls into “special treat” category, but at that price point I want to wear the results for years.
And I should clarify that part of my calculation here is it’s such a fast knit. If I spend a bunch of money on a project that takes all my knitting time for months, well, I’m funding my hobby and I’ve gotten lots of enjoyment out of the experience no matter what happens to the results.
I don’t know that it won’t; I just strongly suspect that it won’t. One has to expect merino to pill, as a general rule, and especially when there’s no plying or tiny tight stitches to combat it. But it is 100% merino fiber, milled in Italy, so the ball price is what it is.
I LOVE the end result!
very nice – I like the modifications that you made. Good info about the blocking as well. :-) I am sorry that the pattern has those big gaps, as otherwise it would be a PERFECT sweater for a beginner, easy and quick to knit. How many of us knit our first sweater in a sport weight? I know I did – it went on forever and was tedious to a new knitter.
I have a bulky knit cable sweater that I love – used Lamb’s Pride bulky for it – but I can’t wear it very often, and I live in Maine! It is just too hot indoors. But it is heavenly to wear when I do. I think you will love having yours for those chilly morning/evenings, whether with a cute dress or flannel pajamas. :-)
Stinkin’ cute on you! I think it will wear better than you expect it to. (Just feeling optimistic, I guess.)
it does look cute and fresh on you, though this style of chunky sweater might not be as pleasing on all body types (for instance short and busty)!
The color looks fantastic on you!
Sometimes you just need to have that bit of whimsical in your closet to please your inner child. This sweater is awesome and you can definitely wear it with your pjs!
Super cute on you! You should break out of the black/gray/camel once in a while (this is the pot calling the kettle black since I wear black/brown/olive non-stop!) and wear this blue – it looks fabulous on you!
This sweater is so cute on you! Love it, and the color … your outfit is just perfect from top to bottom.
Very cute on you–I love your mods. They made all the difference.
thanks for the project review! I made a loopy mango hat for my cousin and bought their kit. Even on sale, it was more money than I’d like to spend. That said, their charming and thoughtful packaging (and their tutorials) really added to my knitting enjoyment! It’s great to hear that the founding ladies are equally sweet. Your sweater looks amazing on you, too!
I realize this will be an unpopular opinion, but… I think this is an unflattering sweater.
I’ve really been enjoying your blog the last couple of years. And I love the idea of a bulky sweater in April! I have an unrelated question. What kind/brand if dress form do you use? Thank you!!
I’m not sure what the brand is, but if you search Amazon for dress form you’ll find it!
It is so fun on you! And thank you for such an honest blog post. I especially appreciate your assessment of the pattern as well. It looked like a cute and fashion-forward knit to send as a gift but now I know not to send it to a total beginner.
Also, will you update us on how it wears after the sweater has been put through its paces?
That sweater is a surprise……….looks great!
I absolutely love this! I love the colour, the chunkiness and the quirkiness, it’s definitely something I would wear! I really hope it doesn’t pill too much :)
I would like to make something similar, but you can’t get the pattern without buying the kit. Any suggestions for getting a similar pattern? Thanks!
Nice
Oh I love this!! You look adorable. Now I really want to order a kit!
The sweater looks fabulous. The knitting process may not be great but the end product? Awesome.
http://www.wllwproject.com
thank you for sharing the process… I’ve been tempted to buy one… but now that I see you I think it won’t be look nice on me… You look great but I think is not a sweater for all kinds of bodies and isn’t cheap… I think is that kind of sweater you have to think very well with what you’re going to wear it … Thanks again for the post!
Such a cute sweater and a great look on you. The colour is sublime. I’ve got everything crossed that this doesn’t disintegrate into bathmatdom any time soon.
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